The State Supreme Court handed down its decision on the Onorato base year plan. The "base year" is simply a way to say that all property values will be frozen at a value of a specific year. In the case of Allegheny County, we have been frozen with a 2002 Base Year.
What the Supreme Court essentially said is that it is fine to use a base year, but because property values change over time, it is unfair to never reassess. If a county does not reassess then property taxes are not equal even perhaps among neighbors.
You can see the Post-Gazette article here.
Without saying what I think of the Onorato plan, I do believe him when he says that he does not want to raise the property taxes in Allegheny County. He has higher ambitions than to be a County Executive. He will do what he has to do to make sure he keeps that promise. As Onorato says in his article, he does have options. The Court did not order an immediate reassessment and even if it did, that doesn't mean that Onorato would be forced to have taxes paid on 100% of assessed value.
My expectation is that Onorato will either delay the reassessment until he is out of office or that, if he is forced to reassess, he will implement a base year with a percentage of assessed value to be taxed. This might mean higher assessed values overall, we simply would not be taxed at the county level at 100% of assesed value. I just think this issue is one that he will refuse to lose.
I came across an interesting article from 2002 that points out some differences in the way Allegheny County and Butler County do property taxes. You can view it here.
What does any of this mean for your local real estate tax? Nothing yet. Remember in 2000 that when the taxation rate changed (from 25% of assessed value to 100%), the District was forced to reduce the associated millage rate so that they would not receive a revenue windfall. I suspect something like that will take place again.
Thanks for reading.
James
